The Google Books storefront is believed to have well under 10 percent of market share for e-book sales. The main competion comes from Amazon (perhaps 58% of ebook sales), Barnes & Noble, Apple, Sony, Kobo and others. Google says that this is just the first of a number of devices that will be directly support its Google Books service.

There are also a number of 7-inch Android tablets available. Most will read books from Amazon, Google, Borders, Barnes and Nobile as well as independent suppliers that use common ebook standards such as ePub, mobi, PDF, TXT, RTF, and others.

Since its launch in April last year, Apple’s iPad tablet has defied skeptics, becoming a breakthough product.

Roger Fidler, program director for digital publishing at the Reynolds Journalism Institute at the University of Missouri, has been conducting surveys of iPad users since last fall and is surprised by the high levels of user satisfaction.

“While the iPad is designed for consuming all kinds of media, it has become clear that leisure reading of news and features is very popular with owners,” Fidler said. “The iPad’s ultra-thin, lightweight nearly magazine-size screen is more conducive for reading than laptop computers and other mobile devices. The screen size seems to be one of the main reasons for its sustained user satisfaction.”

The Guardian announced that it has launched a Kindle edition. It comes as the Guardian prepares to stop printing international editions this October. The Guardian says will be available in the UK, U.S. and 100 other countries, and will feature all content, including supplements, from both the Guardian and its sister Sunday newspaper, the Observer—for now, all in black-and-white.

According to AdWeek the final pricing hasn’t been set yet, but the goal is to offer a roughly 50 percent discount on the tablet and the digital subscription. The hope is to breach the print and digital worlds with the program. Currently the papers’ digital editions each cost $2.99 a week.

A tablet like the Nook Color may have an advantage for newspapers and magazines over a B&W Kindle in that it can run Android apps and display color banner ads as well as embed video and photos. Amazon is rumored to have an Android color tablet in the works, perhaps similar to the Nook Color. Amazon already has an Android App Store.